


to be men

by maddy_does (favefangirl)



Series: carry on countdown 2020 [7]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Canon Compliant, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Cats, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Insecurity, M/M, Post-Book 2: Wayward Son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/favefangirl/pseuds/maddy_does
Summary: Penny adopts a kitten, Baz isn't sure how he feels about it.
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: carry on countdown 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026733
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2020





	to be men

**Author's Note:**

> Carry On Countdown Day 7, DEC 1: Animal

Baz stopped short when he entered the flat. It looked almost normal. Simon was making dinner because he’d gotten home from work first, Penny was sat on their sofa as though she didn’t have a home of her own to go, so of course Shepard was tapping away on his laptop at their kitchen table. It looked almost entirely ordinary except for one tiny, insignificant detail.

“That’s a cat.” Baz stated, closing the door behind him and staring at the black tabby that was sitting in Penny’s lap. “Why is there a cat in my living room?”

Simon looked up from the pot he was stirring and smiled. “Penny’s adopted him. Isn’t he adorable.”

It was a tiny ball of black fluff with a squashed face and three legs kneading at Penny’s stomach. Baz approached it, and it turned to look at Baz. It meowed loudly, and everyone else in the room awwww’d and said how sweet it was. Baz frowned at it. It was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen in his life.

“He’s called Scooby,” Penny informed him, scratching beneath the kitten’s chin so it stretched its neck up to give her better access, entirely shameless. Baz continued to frown at it as its glassy eyes stayed fixed on him.

“Dinner!” Simon called from behind them like the proper little domesticated prat he was. 

Shepard put his laptop away while Baz went to set the table in a routine that was well practised. Usually, Penny would get some bread or salad out to eat with the meal, but she was far too concerned with getting the cat back into its cage. Baz watched, almost in amazement, as Penny wrestled it back into its confine, such a tiny thing putting up so much of a fight. Then he shook his head and went to get the bread himself.

Simon had made tomato pasta - his specialty, though that may have been a generous way of putting it. It was going to have far too much garlic in it, and the tomatoes were going to taste a bit watery, but they were all going to eat it and enjoy it nonetheless, because they always did, and Simon always looked so happy about being able to provide for his friends. Penny finally put the latch on the cage and came to sit down with them, but the kitten still didn’t go quietly, meowing loudly as they tried to start up a conversation. No one else seemed bothered by the noise, except for Baz who kept looking up and frowning over at it. This continued for a few minutes before Baz can stand it no longer.

“Really?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Don’t be so grumpy, Basil,” Penny scolded with a shake of her head as she dipped her bread into the pasta sauce.

“Yeah Baz, be nice to Scooby, you probably drank his cousin.” Shepard said. The room fell silent. Even the cat shut up. “Sorry,” Shepard quickly added. “It was just a joke, sorry.”

“If your cat shits on my carpet I’m going to kill you,” Baz replied, deadpan. 

It did just enough to ease the awkwardness for them to get back onto their previous topic of conversation. Baz thought he’d managed to cover his discomfort quite well, until he felt a foot slide against his under the table. He looked up and Simon flashed him quick smile then went back to his dinner. Baz managed to relax a bit at that. He always did with Simon there to comfort him.

He never liked the reminders of what he was, less so about what he’d had to do to live with it. He'd read magickal academic journals about vampires, how they were beasts, animalistic in nature, incapable of staying connected to humanity. Baz knew he overcompensated sometimes in his endeavour not to fit the stereotype, and Simon thought he was “dead weird” about things because of it, but whenever he thought of that - of what he was and what it meant - he could never help but feel he’d let his mother down. Should would've put a stake through her own heart before she resorted to rats in the catacombs, and housecats off the street to survive.

After dinner Penny decided they should finally get the cat to his new home. Simon, of course, needed a half hour long cuddle before it get was taken, but Baz didn’t mind doing the dishes while his dolt of a boyfriend doted on the kitten. Simon was shameless in his affection, and the cat even more so in how much it was enjoying the chin scratches, and the stroking between its ears.

“It’s ugly,” Baz said, drying his hands on a tea towel once he’d washed up.

“Yeah he is,” Shepard agreed fondly, voice an octave higher than normal as he leant in to scratch the side of its face while Simon stroked its back.

Baz just shook his head and went to take a shower. Usually he could spend an hour under the water, going through the motions of his complicated skin and hair care routines, but showering gave him too much time to think so he just had a quick wash with Simon’s all-purpose shower gel and got out. The shower was hot enough to fog up the glass on the mirror, so he wiped the condensation away and met his own eyes in the reflection.

Simon asked once where the stereotype that vampires don’t have a reflection came from, and Baz told him to stop being an idiot. He had a reflection. There he was, looking back on himself, two grey eyes, one slightly crooked nose, a mouth. He parted his lips just enough that his fangs poked through, then slammed it shut again, focused back on the ears, the puffy cheeks, the damp hair - all human.

Suddenly he wasn't alone in the mirror. Simon leaned against his side and pressed a kiss to his cheek. They didn’t have to say anything, Baz already knew what Simon meant. It was an argument they’d had before, about whether Baz was man or monster. Their opinions always differed, and the line between affirmation and emotional manipulation tended to blur enough that it was a dangerous fight to have, and they both seemed to actively avoid it. 

“I had a burger for lunch.”

“Simon,” Baz warned.

“I’m just saying,” Simon said, pressing his nose to Baz’s shoulder.

Baz shook his head because Simon Snow may be an idiot, but he was _his_ idiot and he never thought he'd get to have this, not really with anyone, but especially not with him. “It’s a really ugly cat,” Baz stated.

Simon burst out laughing, loud and bright. He looked so happy, and if Baz could do that, could make Simon Snow smile when he’d had every reason not to, well then he couldn’t be all bad, monster, man or otherwise.

**Author's Note:**

> so i couldn't stop thinking about that bit where baz like, drained a cat? that was just like, someone's pet? idk. wild. but that led me down a rabbit hole of baz's insecurity about his vampirism and then. this.
> 
> idk man, i'm on my last week of term and i'm tired. sorry and all that. 
> 
> anyway, if you wanna leave a comment or a kudos they're much appreciated! especially let me know if there's something you think i forgot to tag! hope you liked it?
> 
> i'm taking prompts! if you're interested please drop the prompt in the comments below. if you do send a prompt be prepared for me to take fifty years to fill it because school is so hard (or, i guess, uni now, lol), but i promise i'll try! come say hi on tumblr: [@maddy-does](https://maddy-does.tumblr.com/)
> 
> thanks for reading, have a wonderful existence.


End file.
